He’s a warm, inventive straight-ahead guitarist with some great ideas and the chops to – express them.
Jazz Express, 23.3.2011, USA

LIBOR SMOLDAS – short résumé

Libor Šmoldas (1982) is a Prague based jazz guitarist and composer. Besides top Czech and European musicians he has
worked and recorded with international stars such as George Mraz, Jeff Ballard, Sam Yahel, Bobby Watson, Adam Nussbaum,
Brian Charette, Jay Anderson, Stephen Keogh and more.

Libor has released seven albums as a leader (Blue, Smoldas plays Jezek 2015, Dreamtime 2013, Intuition 2013,18 Days
2000 Miles 2012, In New York on time 2010, Live at Jazz Dock 2010, On the playground 2007). He has worked and recorded
on numerous occaisions as a sideman for Hal Tsuchida, Skip Wilkins, Bob Montgomery, Ingrid James, Bill Warfield,
Zeuritia, Robert Balzar. While playing with Ondrej Pivec and his Organic Quartet, the band was awarded with Andel award
for best jazz recording of the year.

In spite of his being awarded a scholarship to Berklee School of Music in 2005, he decided to stay in the Czech
republic and studied Advanced Secondary Studies department of the Jezek Conservatory of Jazz and Music and Janacek
Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He toured the USA with his czech quartet in 2011 and have been coming
back to play there ever since.

Since 2012 Libor has been touring yearly in Australia, living there for a quater of a year in 2014 and 2015.

In spite of his young age is Libor widely considered to be one of the best jazz musicians in the country and a
leading representative of his generation.

LIBOR SMOLDAS – full résumé

Libor Šmoldas was born in 1982 in Olomouc in the Czech Republic, but has lived in Prague since his childhood. He
has been an avid musician since his early youth, starting with the recorder and trumpet, and picking up the guitar at
the age of twelve. After initial forays into rock and blues he began to take an interest in jazz, mainly due to his
fascination with the recordings of Charlie Parker.

While still a student of the Evropská High School of Music he began to appear in jazz clubs and bars all around
Prague with American blues singer Phil Speat, as well as at the traditional Sunday jam sessions in the popular club
U Malého Glena, one of the cradles of the up-and-coming generation of Czech jazz musicians. Before beginning his
conservatory studies he studied guitar with Josef Kůstka, Luboš Andršt, Zdeněk Fišer and Petr Zelenka.

In 2001 he entered the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory of Jazz and Popular Music, studying in the jazz guitar
department under Jiří Šindler. Two years later he was accepted into its newly opened Advanced Secondary Studies
department, where his teachers were Peter Binder, Josef Štěpánek and David Dorůžka. His classmates included Jakub
Doležal, Daniel Šoltis, Rastislav Uhrík, Vojtěch Procházka, Oskar Török, Roman Vícha, Ondřej Pivec, Tomáš
Hobzek and other leading personalities of the younger generation of Czech jazzmen.

Šmoldas has been a permanent fixture on the Prague jazz scene since his conservatory days when he performed not only
with his classmates, but also with such outstanding artists as NajPonk, Jaromír Honzák, Radek Zapadlo and Jiří
Slavíček. He also played with Polish-Cuban singer Yvonne Sanchez and her band Brazilian Mood, opening for Billy Cobham
on a tour through Turkey and Cyprus.
In 2005 he went to Freiburg, Germany to audition for a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee School of Music.
Although he was awarded a scholarship, he decided to remain in the Czech republic. Libor graduated the Advanced
Secondary Studies in Prague and after the jazz program was newly opened at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing
Arts in Brno, he made his bachelor’s degree there. His teachers in the academy where David Doruzka and Vilem
Spilka.

His first US experience would come in 2009 when he studied in New York under leading jazz guitarists Paul
Bollenback, Lage Lund, Mike Moreno, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas and Peter Bernstein.

His friendship with hammondist and conservatory classmate Ondřej Pivec led to the 2005 founding of Organic Quartet
with drummer Tomáš Hobzek and saxophonist Jakub Doležal. The bandʼs first album Donʼt Get Ideas (Cube-Metier, 2006)
earned very positive reviews both at home and abroad, as well as the Czech Academy of Popular Musicʼs Anděl award for
Best Jazz Album of the Year. Shortly thereafter the quartet began to perform on festival stages throughout Europe
(Cheltenham, Sibiu, Kishinev, Prague Autumn, Paris, Athens, Sophia), toured China, and won a number of awards, including
the Audience Choice award at Getxo, 1st Place at the Phillips Jazz Prague festival and Straubing jazz festival. Their
second album, Never Enough (Animal Music, 2007) was also a huge success, and Organic Quartet became one of the most
respected jazz groups in the Czech Republic. They also recorded a live album LIVE! and cooperated with many interesting
musicians such as Joel Frahm, Karel Ruzicka Jr or Gabriela Demeterova. Frontman Ondřej Pivec is currently living in New
York, returning to the Czech Republic occasionally to tour with the quartet.

Šmoldas recorded his debut album On the Playground (Animal Music, 2007) with organist Ondřej Pivec and leading
Polish drummer Łukasz Żyta. The album, which contains six of Šmoldasʼ original compositions and two jazz standards,
successfully combines traditional and modern approaches to jazz, and generated a lot of excitement with the Czech public
and critics alike.
Among the trioʼs other notable successes were performances at the prestigious Young Prague festival (2007) and in the
Jazz At the Rudolfinum concert (2009), which featured Šmoldasʼ arrangement of his “Lydian Blues” for the trio and
the Prague Philharmonia chamber orchestra.

In the summer of 2009 Šmoldas recorded his second album, this time in New York with some of the worldʼs best jazz
players, including bassist George Mraz, drummer Jeff Ballard and pianist Sam Yahel. The album entitled In New York On
Time was released in early 2010 to overwhelmingly positive reviews in the Czech and international press. At the age of
27, Šmoldas thus became the only jazzman in the Czech Republic to have recorded with jazz stars of this calibre.

Libor Šmoldas Quartet was formed in 2009, featuring czech’s premier youg players Josef Fečo on bass, Tomáš
Hobzek on drums, and Petr Beneš on piano. The quartetʼs repertoire consists of original compositions by Šmoldas. Band
recorded Libor’s third release, this time a live recording entitled Live at Jazz Dock (2010). On the internet Live
at Jazz Dock was had more than three thousand single downloads.
Thanks to popularity of Live at Jazz Dock Libor's quartet did a thing previous generations of Czech jazz musicians
would only dream about. They toured the USA performing in New York city (Smalls, BNH), New Jersey (Trumpets),
Pennsylvania (Moravian College, LaFayette university), Washington DC (Bayou, Czech embassy), North Carolina (Western
Carolina University Jazz festival), Richmond (Bogarts in the Fan).

During the tour quartet recorded another album in studios of the Western Carolina University. The CD was released in
2012 and entitled 18 days, 2000 miles (New Port Line, 2012). It consists of compositions of all members and some
cover material as well and captures the band in great shape after a tour.

Bobby Watson, the legendary american alto saxophonist and former member of the Jazz Messengers made a guest
appereance there on 18 days, 2000 miles. Since then Libor Šmoldas Quartet became his European band playing a lot of
concerts including major festivals like Prague Proms, Jazz Fest Brno or Il Ritmo delle Città jazz festival Milan.

The fifth Šmoldas’ album is entitled Intuition (New Port Line, 2013) and features his quarett with Bobby Watson.
It was recorded at the end of czech tour and released on Prague Proms festival in Prague.

The Libor Smoldas Quartet has been gaining recognition across the Czech rep, Europe and USA for five years now.
Playing hunderds of concerts both in clubs and festivals and releasing three albums so far.

The sixth and lates Libor’s album is a trio record with Adam Nussbaum on drums and Jay Anderson on bass. Both
players rank among the very top world jazz musicians. Album is entitled Dreamtime (New Port Line, 2013) and consists
solely of ballads. Trio has introduced this album to Czech, Slovakiana and Polish audiances during their festival tour
in 2013.

Šmoldas also plays regularly as a sideman. Both in regular bands and backing-up for visiting artists. For example
with Jan Kořínekʼs popular blues band Groove, his wife's band Zeurítia, Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, american
pianist Skip Wilkinson and top New York organist Brian Charette. Also with Bob Montgomery, Bill Warfield, Al Hermann,
Michał Tokaj, Michał Barański and Aga Zarian.

Libor has also an international career as a teacher. He has been teaching jazz guitar, rhythm a nd ensembles on the
Prague conservatory since 2006. He frequently teaches jazz workshops, camps and masterclasses, lately in Australia,
Germany, Italy, England, Greece, USA, Poland and Czech republic. Among his co-teachers over the yers have been musicians
like Graeme Lyall, John Morrison, Bruce Barth, Perico Sambeat, Kevin Dean, Stephen Keogh, Phil Wilkinson, Brian
Charette, Steve Walsh, Marta Töpferová, Kornel Fekete-Kovács and many others.

Libor Šmoldas ranks among the stars of the Czech jazz scene in spite of his youth. He plays, teaches and records
with the international stars of the jazz world and is widely considered to be one of the best jazz guitarists in the
country.